Take To The Sky
by Inside Lemon
Summary: Blu and Jewel learn their species has been declared extinct in the wild. With a little prodding, Jewel convinces Blu to search for other Macaws all over Brazil, and they'll take to the sky, and find themselves in over their heads as they scour Brazil and meet new friends, discover themselves, and address their personal problems. Together.
1. Good Morning

This story is one of love, loss, freedom, and the little things.

 **The first two paragraphs are a recap, and can be skipped with no consequences, though for the sake of the story I'd like to tell, things are different, so it's advised that you do still read the second paragraph.**

 **Love** is fickle. Love is painful. Love is...well...lovely. A time ago, I thought love was impossible, improbable, inconceivable. The dank, dark, desolate, destructive force that simply turned all that might be good into a vacuous void of sorrow and despair.

 _Until I'd met Blu. I met Blu, that adorable...awkward little bird, the only other Macaw of my kind. Brought to Brazil by a crazy Ornithologist named Tulio, and his bookworm owner Linda. He was a little weird at first, strange and just wanting to go back to Linda. But then we had a whole experience together, good and bad. He's sweet as can be, smarter than the average bear, and to even my own surprise he's a forced to be reckoned with. Blu saved my life, on a plane roughly 3 years ago. We were going to be smuggled off on a plane by some poachers. It was a little humiliating to be caught by then considering how stupid they were. Thankfully, Blu got free and set the rest of the birds free too... and y'know it was something I really didn't expect from him at the time. He didn't exactly seem like the heroic 'rescue everyone' type when I first met him, he seemed more of the...'hide your head under the sand' type. But...then we fought that bird Nigel, and he knocked a steel cage onto my wing, and it broke. Goodness that was embarrassing, and then I fell_ **out** _of the plane too, and he had to catch me and fly us to safety...did I mention he had_ **NEVER** _flown before that moment? And he kissed me then too...he kissed me while we flew...it was then that I knew that he was the bird I wanted to spend my life with._

 _I never counted on finding love...but I guess it's one of those things that finds you. Speaking of things finding you, we found ourselves 6 months later with 3 little hatchlings, Tiago, Carla, and Bia. Our beautiful daughters, and our impeccably handsome son. I have to say, my happiest moment was seeing those chicks smiling faces when they finally hatched, almost brings a tear to my eye just thinking about now. And my saddest moment, was definitely when they flew the coop, 2 and a half years later. They come by every so often, but...they've got their own lives now. And now, everyone should be caught up._

Jewel stirred awake, pulled from a deep sleep by the sun shining down into the pair of Spix's Macaw's tree. Jewel groaned, turning her head away from the sun, covering her eyes with her wings. The Macaw didn't feel like getting out of bed today, so she tried her best to get back to sleep...but then she realized she itched...then she realized it was hot...now it was cold...ugh, she just couldn't get comfortable. Jewel reluctantly opened her eyes again, and peered around the now brightly-lit nest inside the hollowed tree trunk they called home. Blu was leaned against Jewel, his beak open wide, tongue lazily hanging from the side of his beak as he slept peacefully, if a little awkwardly.

Jewel stifled a laugh, and gently prodded Blu in the chest with her wing. Blu stirred a little, and snorted, getting a bit of spit on Jewel's neck. She rolled her eyes and prodded Blu a little harder in the chest, and now he started awake, having always been a light sleeper. "Wha- Jewel are-...oh! Good morning!"

Jewel smiled warmly at her partner. "Good morning, sleepyhead..." she chirped quietly and rubbed her head against his neck. Blu gave a flickering smile, and leaned back against her, trading loving coos.

"Pancakes~?" Blu asked, pulling away from her and stretching his wings wide to shake the remnants of sleep off.

"With blueberries!" Jewel chimed, and began to do a couple quick stretches of her own.

Blu smirked at her, and chirped teasingly. "And I thought you preferred to forage?"

Jewel rolled her eyes, and smiled at Blu. "Sometimes...I'll indulge you...and pancakes _are_ pretty good." She admitted, and finished her stretches off, finally completely awake. Jewel crouched down for a moment, and a wicked grin grew across her face. Staring at the exit to their enclosed nest, she chirped to Blu. "Betcha I can-" she began, but was interrupted, and thrown off balance by a blue blur of...Blu.

"Beatcha there!?" Blu finished for her, laughing all the while, and began to jet away, flying out of view.

"Wh- hey! No fair!" Jewel laughed, and followed him out.

It was a clear day, crimson beams of light cast down on the green jungle, illuminating the waking world, rudely pulled from its slumber by the none other than the sun. For miles and miles, there were jungle trees, untamed and wild, the air rushing by Jewel's ears howled as she sped after Blu, the lovebirds laughing as they flew. The pair raced East, towards the sun. Red and orange coated the lovers, now side-by-side as they flew, the blue birds now a deep red. Jewel and Blu flew up and around, side to side, over and under. They touched the treetops with their wingtips and laughed, playing as they went.

"You got a head start, but I'm gonna beat you, Blu!" Jewel yelled after him, interrupting herself with her own laughter.

Blu laughed back at her. "Not likely! You were too slow to start, and we fly at the same speed!" He threw his prediction at her.

Blu and Jewel finally saw it, Linda and Tulio's house, where the window was always open, and the couple had a habit of coming in and helping themselves to whatever they could.

Blu landed on the windowsill first, and began to step toward the open window, but Jewel barreled by him, still in-flight. She laughed, making a few victory laps around the room.

"Hey! That's hardly fair!" Blu cried out indignantly, "I landed first!"

"I got through the window first! And you had a head start!" Jewel chirped back at him, and landed gracefully on the kitchen counter, she struck a proud pose. Blu couldn't help but smile, and he fluttered over to a cabinet and pulled it open with both legs. He grabbed a normal sized mixing bowl, and set it down on the table. Jewel followed his lead, as they'd done more times than she'd like to admit, to make the pancakes, and they got cooking.

Jewel tapped her claw on the T.V. remote, flipping past all the boring channels...

"News...news...Nascar...kid's show...Titanic... _Old_ kid's show...Rocky and Bullwinkle..." Jewel squawked boredly, turning her head to look at Blu, who was busy setting the last of the human-sized pancakes onto the oversized plate. "I don't know how people can watch this stuff, it's just boring program after boring program..."

"What about Football?" Blu chimed.

"Well wouldn't you rather watch it in the stadium?" Jewel retorted.

"It's nice to not have t- _oof_!" Blu was cut short, as a pancake he made far too big crushed him underneath it.

Jewel watched amusedly for a moment, shaking her head.

After a few seconds...Blu poked his head up through a now-bird-sized hole in the pancake, a half-eaten blueberry resting on top of his head, like a helmet. "They're ready! And delicious. Mm." Blu ran his tongue around his beak and took a bite out of the pancake he was trapped in.


	2. Pancakes and Plans

Jewel and Blu sat huddled nearby, around the pancake platter, resting peacefully on the couch. Jewel had dug into the pancakes from her side monstrously, devouring them with vigor. Blu looked on, used to this sort of thing from Jewel, he simply smiled. "You've got some blueberry on your...everything." He pointed a talon at her. Jewel looked up from her pancakes to look at Blu, then back to herself, and noted she was indeed dyed a blueberry blue by the pancakes she'd been eating like a wild animal. She chuckled, unbothered by this revelation, and continued eating her pancakes. Blu exhaled sharply, in a poor attempt to hide his laughter. "I'll just...watch some more T.V." he said, his voice frothy with mirth.

Blu watched the T.V. with little interest, flipping through a few channels before finally settling on the news, a lady wearing far too much makeup and a man wearing far too little came to life on the screen, reading off the news in tones of concern, whether genuine or not. "In other news-" the woman began, as Blu took another bite from the pancake platter, mostly using the T.V. as background noise. "Thirty-two kittens were rescued from a burning building by local authorities after an urgent 1-9-2 call, and the arsonist responsible is _still_ at large, thankfully there were no fatalities, and these fluffy felines get to come home to new owners soon-"

Blu zoned out for a moment, just enjoying the pancakes, Jewel usually wanted to eat some sort of wild nuts or fruit, so pancakes were a welcome change. Jewel, however had turned her attention back to the T.V., licking a bit of blueberry juice from her beak. "A traffic incident in Ipanema will cause some delay along the roads in and around-" Jewel and Blu seemed to listen to the program on and off, more busy with the pancakes and a bit of small talk here and there... "Organized Squirrel Crime? It could happen to you..." the anchorman droned in a soothing baritone.

"An umbrella that collects rainwater and puts it in a bottle for you to drink?" The anchorwoman said in disbelief.

Blu sneered at this headline. "Gross."

"A comb that can cut your hair while you comb it." The anchorman said in a flat voice.

"And our final piece for the day, about the endangered local fauna, known as Spix's Macaws-" Jewel's interest peaked, and she gazed up at the T.V., ignoring a blueberry sat in front of her, which Blu swiped.

"The birds, known for their critically acclaimed T.V. appearances by Brazilian directors in Hollywood, in an attempt to save their species from extinction, and known to dwell only in the Río São Francisco valley in the Northeast section of the country, have officially been declared Extinct In The Wild, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or the IUCN." hearing the IUCN involved, it must be serious, Jewel reasoned.

"Apart from several small breeding facilities and a few conservation programs," The anchorwoman continued. "there's roughly 100 of these cerulean wonders left, however there doesn't seem to be much that can save these beautiful blue birds from their inevitable extinction, due to the rapidly decreasing gene pool, genetic diversity is a significant problem for a species of any kind that gets to numbers this low..."

Jewel and Blu exchanged looks. "Funny...I thought Linda and Tulio said we were the last ones left..." Blu recalled.

They took a moment to collect themselves hearing this news. Blu was a little puzzled, but Jewel was ecstatic. "Blu! We aren't the last ones!" She exclaimed, her blueberry covered chest heaving swiftly with short, excited breathes.

Blu put on a bemused expression and looked over at Jewel. "But...they told _us_..." he trailed off. "Hey, hold on, that anchorman said our species was, or is, extinct in the wild...so..."

Jewel thought on this for a moment. "So it's bad news..." She realized, her quick breathes halting, as she instead heaved a sigh she looked down at the couch for a moment. "But, how do they know for sure?" She asked, perking her head up, a hint of hope in her voice, she approached Blu and placed herself into his personal space.

Blu took a half-step back to avoid the blueberry coating on Jewel's feathers. "Well...uh...they have the expert humans, who'll find the birds, if there's any that weren't born into captivity." Blu explained.

Jewel nodded swiftly, and turned on her heel, now pacing back and forth on the couch, racking her brain. "I think we need some time to think about what this means..." Jewel finally said, as Blu took one last bite from a pancake on the platter. "I woulgn' worr'g ga'boudit." He chirped with a beak full of pancake.

Jewel _did_ worry about it, however. For the next few days, it was _all_ she could think of...that there might be more Spix's Macaws out there...that there could be hundreds, no, _thousands_ more! Just waiting to be discovered! Or at least, that's what she thought...but how would they find the other Macaws? Even the human 'experts' seemed unable to do it...

Eventually, one full week later while Blu was asleep leaned against Jewel. She couldn't quite sleep with all the thoughts clouding her mind...but the perfect plan came to her.

Later the next morning, Blu was sat on the couch, watching the T.V. boredly, some generic cartoon was on about cats. Blu didn't much care for cats, but he also didn't have anything better to do.

Jewel flew into view, parking herself _right_ in front of Blu, who had to follow her feet up and meet her gaze. "Hey, Jewel!" He chirped happily, and began to sit up. "I tho-" Jewel interrupted him, chirping fast.

"I got an idea and you're going to _love_ it!" She said matter-of-factly.

"Oh?" Blu asked, cocking his head to the side in curiosity.

"I don't think those human 'experts' are going to find any other Spix's Macaws anytime soon, they haven't yet, so **we** are gonna help 'em, by searching on our own!" Jewel's chest heaved up and down quickly with excitement, and she eagerly awaited Blu's response.

Blu solemnly shook his head. "N-no, no way...it's too dangerous." He chirped firmly.

"Those experts can't do it, so we'll have to!

Blu furrowed his brow and frowned. "But...Jewel, those humans have like... _degrees_ in bird watching? I mean, come on, if they can't find them how are _we_ gonna do that?"

"Simple, birds know birds best!" Jewel chirped.

Blu smirked. "Okay, maybe, but how are we gonna find them? Scour every inch of Brazil? It'd take us forever to walk-"

Jewel gave him a quizzical look...

"Oh! W-well, even if we fly, that's a lot of ground to cover...though I suppose it is faster." Blu reasoned, now tapping his chin with a feather.

"And...?" Jewel smirked.

" _And_ we're not professionals." Blu reminded her. "We can leave it to the experts."

" _I_ think..." Jewel began to pace in front of Blu. "that the humans could use a little help from us birds, think of it like an extension, private investigation...a scientific opportunity, Blu!"

Blu sighed, resting his chin on his wing like a hand. "Jewel...even if we did give them a bird's eye view of things, why would we need to? It's perfectly safe where we are and I don't think I need to remind you that we aren't _supposed_ to get into wacky, _zany_ trouble! If you got hurt, I don't know what I'd do...plus the species is almost extinct, so if one of us... _y'know_ it'd be a big deal. And we're talking about a...a big endeavour, here, it's not just," Blu sighed "it's not just...high adventure and good times, you know."

Jewel scoffed. "Blu, don't be such a worry-wart, I know you want to keep me safe, but I'm not made of porcelain..." she scolded. "And...well...it would beat the heck out of sitting around _here_ all day, doing lots of nothing!" She spread her wings, gesturing to the human house around them. "Making human food and flying around all day is fun, but since Bia, Carla and Tiago left, we haven't had anything _new_ to do...and the T.V. is just-ugh...I hate that thing! _All_ it is, is silly time-wasting." She waved a wing dismissively at the show behind her.

Blu thought on this for a moment, and to his displeasure, he had to give her a point. "I...I guess, but...but...you know..." his features softened as he pleaded with her to change her mind.

Jewel placed her wings delicately into Blu's and smiled knowingly at him. "I do know..." she chirped quietly, and rubbed her beak against his.

Blu cooed happily and smiled, enjoying it. "Alright...I see your point...l-let's do it!" Blu said, his enthusiasm bubbling to the surface.

Jewel jumped up, and began to fly around the room. "Yes! Thank you so much! I knew you'd see it my way!" She flew about, laughing, clearly very enthusiastic about it.

Blu tapped his chin with his wing again. "But we'll need a plan, a flight route, and..." Blu glanced at Jewel, who was whooping with joy as she flew about. The sight made Blu chuckled. "And a couple of days..."

So now, Jewel and Blu endeavored to find at least one other Spix's Macaw. Jewel's heart beaming with joy as she flew merrily about the room. Blu's heart was filled with worry, and doubt, but it was likewise filled with the optimistic thought that they would find more of their kind, and he was happy...as long as Jewel was happy, so was he. Blu fluttered over to a nearby bookshelf and pulled a map of Brazil out from one of Tulio's favorite geography books. He laid it flat on the kitchen table and began to pour through it, starting to map their route. He took a look up at Jewel, who had taken to dancing in excitement on the stairwell railing, and he smiled. "Jewel's right..." Blu chirped quietly to himself. "I worry too much..." he shook his head dismissively at his past doubtful thoughts, and studied the book in preparation for the journey to come.


	3. Good Tidings, Silver Linings

Jewel hadn't expected Blu to have such a strict regimen for the two of them. But, she acquiesced to it, despite herself. A regimen set day-by-day with every single tiny aspect planned out for them, from what they'd eat to where they'd sleep, and even precisely how many calories they'd have ingested by the time they got to Brasilia, the capitol city of Brazil. She'd found it a little endearing that he'd put so much effort in to something he probably didn't want to do. And so, with a little minor redirection, Jewel convinced Blu to drop a few aspects of his plan, like the paste he wanted to bring, and cut out a good chunk of the micromanagement and scheduling. Even if he didn't mean to micromanage, he definitely outdid himself this time.

Blu hadn't expected Jewel to be so relaxed about how they'd make their trip. She didn't have a plan, any real route, supplies like water, food, biodegradable nutrient paste, etc. Blu considered it a little silly to just fly all over Brazil with no plan. Blu had spent the past few days reading charter maps, mapping out the quickest, safest routes through the jungle and beyond. Blu presented his maps, plans, and overall (synonym for plan), she said it was a little 'heavy' and he dropped some aspects...for instance, she reminded him that they were birds, so they were _always_ taking the quickest, safest route wherever they went, and that finding food and water would take almost no effort. Blu had to admit, he did forget that at some point. He also dropped the biodegradable nutrient paste since Jewel said it tasted like chalk.

Jewel sat on a tree branch, not far from Linda & Tulio's house, where Blu was working on making sure they had mapped every city in Brazil. Jewel couldn't help but feel a little guilty. She took a deep breathe and looked back at the window left ajar. "Maybe I should help him...?" She chirped softly to herself. She felt guilty that Blu was left alone to plan every minute detail of their trip, while she just sort of...existed. He might be a scholarly, nervous gentlebird, but he wasn't Miguel Nicolelis, for heaven's sake.

Blu was perched on Tulio's desk, finally putting the finishing touches on his plan, shutting several heavy geography books. Blu felt a little guilty, having left Jewel to her own devices, while he worked alone. Maybe it was too much? Maybe he was overthinking it. Blu turned his head and let his beak fall slack lightly in surprise. How many pages was that? "Too many..." Blu sighed to himself, and noted the heavy stack of human-sized papers was far too large to carry on their journey.

Jewel swooped in through the window, beaming brightly as she landed beside Blu on Tulio's desk. Her eyes shifted to the stack of notes. "Blu...uh...that's a bit much, don't you think?" She chirped amusedly.

"Yes, b-but..." Blu began, then gave a hard glance at the notes.

"We're not taking them, are we?" Jewel asked in a way that sounded more like a suggestion.

Blu shook his head. "No, I just er...got a little carried away." He chuckled nervously, and then approached the note-stack and ran a talon down the front page, following his neat handwriting to the bottom. "I...think we're ready." Blu said, turning to smile at Jewel.

"Great! Anything you need me to do now before we get going?" Jewel asked, taking a step towards her lover.

Blu stood still for a moment, and smiled sheepishly. "Well, I mean- uh...oh you meant...yes, yeah...yes, I do, actually...we should both go looking for Brazil nuts...uh...together!" Blu stammered.

Jewel took another step towards him and gave him a light peck on the cheek, winking at him. "Don't be so nervous." She chirped with mirth bubbling to the surface of her voice, mixing with that hint of amusement in her voice, creating a warm, inviting tone.

Blu sighed, infatuated with Jewel. "I love when you talk like that..." he chirped down at her from Cloud Nine.

"I know!" Jewel chirped happily, and wrapped her wing around Blu, dragging him to the edge of the desk with her. "Now let's go get some food!" She chirped, ready for adventure.

Blu and Jewel had spent the evening gathering Brazil Nuts, picking the freshest ones from the outskirts of the beautiful city Rio De Janeiro. Blu didn't want to admit it, but his stomach was turning over at the thought of traveling Brazil on what he thought to be a wild goose chase...but he pushed this thought to the back of his mind, and spent his time collecting nuts with Jewel, gathering them in a cloth so they could carry them back to Linda & Tulio's home. They'd been foraging a long time, and collected more nuts than they could feasibly eat within a week before they decided to turn back as they saw the sun begin to set.

Blu laughed, flying along with the heavy cloth of food under him, Jewel was flying just inches above him, and a little to the left.

"Stop that!" Laughed Blu, flying a little lower.

"Stop what?" Jewel chirped, feigning innocence.

"I know that's your wing!" Blu chirped, looking up at her.

Jewel stuck her tongue out at Blu playfully and looped under him before coming back up on his right, now brushing her wingtips against the top of his head as she had done before.

"Cut it out!" Blu laughed again, the shaking from his body causing several Brazil Nuts to fall from the cloth they were piled inside.

Jewel looped under him again, and one of the falling nuts bonked her on the head, to her surprise. "Ow! My head!" she chirped, before appearing again on Blu's left side, a little disoriented, but otherwise fine.

"Wait, Blu..." Jewel chirped, watching the food fall from the cloth. "I just thought of something."

"What?" Blu chirped inquisitively.

"How are we gonna carry that sack around Brazil for weeks?" She asked with genuine curiosity.

Blu thought for a moment, as they continued flying. "Simple! We uh..." Blu stopped, then sighed. "We uh...don't." He closed his eyes and sighed, realizing their error.

"So all this foraging was pointless?" Jewel asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Blu opened his eyes, another realization dawning on him. "No, we have dinner, breakfast, and lunch!" Blu both remembered, and reminded her. "And the rest we can just...I'm not sure...we could stash it somewhere, probably. Squirrels do it all the time." Blu said.

"I guess. But you're not a squirrel..." Jewel sighed.

Jewel and Blu returned to Tulio & Linda's house, deciding to stay the night there, for old time's sake, before they were truly ready to set out.

Blu and Jewel were nesting on the couch, forming an impromptu bedding area with small blankets, cloths from the kitchen, and an oven mitt. After Blu and Jewel finished jury-rigging their nest and decided to hunker down, they tried their best to get some sleep. The couple cozily snuggled together, cooing happily. They may not be able to nestle down in such a comfortable way again for a long time.

Blu leaned away from Jewel, the thoughts he pushed to the back of his mind shoved their way to the front again. ' _I hope Jewel's right,_ ' Blu thought, ' _if there is more of our kind out there, then there's hope for the future in the wild._ ' Blu then instinctively raised his eyebrow as he made an internal discovery. ' _But...what then? What are we going out there to do? Just find more Macaws and say "Okie dokie, let's go home, mission accomplished"? There has to be something we do...round them all up? Bring them back here? Let the humans know there's more out there? If there is more out there, then...then they'd do just fine._ ' Blu furrowed his brow, certain of this. ' _But..._ ' He let his expression soften, and he grinned despite himself. ' _But if it makes Jewel happy...I'll do it..._ ' He sighed quietly and then glanced over at Jewel. She was fast asleep, head against the oven mitt. Blu cooed softly and leaned back against Jewel, combining his warmth with hers. He chirped, his voice as low a whisper as he could possibly muster. " _We're chained-together-birds...I'll go wherever you do._ " He smiled wide, and let his doubts fall away into obscurity as he drifted to sleep.

Blu felt himself falling forward, and gave out a very brief shout, before he face planted on the pitch black floor. He squawked in panic and rose quickly to his feet, flapping his wings in alarm. His heart was racing, his breathing so fast he was hyperventilating. Blu looked all around, jerking his head here and there, trying to find Jewel, trying to find Linda and Tulio, anyone at all, any familiar faces or sights.

There was nothing, and nobody. Blu was alone. Completely alone. Everywhere he looked there was only a never ending veil of shadow. Blu called into the darkness, "Jewel!" He chirped, desperate to find his love. " _Blu!_ " Her voice sounded far away, and faint. "JEWEL!" Blu cried again, and took flight, flying where he thought heard her voice in this infinite black.

" _Blu!_ " Her voice sounded closer, but still a million miles off. Then, Blue saw it...a shimmer of light, the glinting of eyes. Blu vocalized incoherently in his dazed and confused state, as what looked like teeth and eyes darted through the cold, dark room.

"JEWEL, BE CAREFUL! SOMEONE- ER, SOME THING IS HERE!" Blu found his voice and squawked loudly, hoping to alert his love to whatever may be lurking.

He saw it again, but this time, he saw fur...lots of fur, brown fur, he smelled...a petting zoo. He saw leaves blow in the wind, but felt none on his feathers or skin. Blu spotted a tall frame, thin...just skin and bones, giving it a skeletal appearance. It towered above him. It had long teeth, and they looked sharp. Suddenly, the figure changed, forming a large fat paunch along it's stomach, and an unhealthy layer of lard along it's limbs. It croaked dryly and incoherently, and the whole room shifted again. The figure let out another hoarse cry before it curled into a ball, it's outline in the dark giving it the appearance of a perfect sphere. Then it formed a cube, and it fell apart, dissolving into hundreds more tiny black squares, they turned white and contrasted harshly against the unending sea of black, and began to flow on the wind Blu still couldn't feel. Blu was confused above all measure, and terrified beyond all reason. Blu stared down at one of the white squares, cautiously approaching it. It began to shudder as Blu heard a voice both surrounding him, and booming from within himself, despite being hoarse and frail sounding at the same time. The voice, almost identical to that of the thin figure's. " _ **Cuidado com um punhal no escuro.**_ " It croaked.

"What...?" Blu chirped quietly, quivering where he stood. Blu heard Jewel shout his name again, " _ **BLUE!**_ " and the darkness began to fade into white.

Blu jolted awake, as he felt himself being shaken back and forth. He began to panic and flap his wings wildly, and scrape his claws at the air, before he heard something that soothed him.

"Blu!" Jewel chirped concernedly, narrowly avoiding his outstretched talons. "Blu, you're okay! It's okay! I'm here!" She chirped again, before she wrapped her wings around him. She felt him relax, and heard him give a sigh of relief before his breathing began to slow. She helped pull him to his feet, feeling his racing heart beat through his chest as though it were trying to escape. "Blu...what happened?" Jewel asked, pulling out of their hug to look him in the eyes.

Blu sat in a stunned silence for a moment. He was back in Linda & Tulio's house...home, with Jewel, they were safe. Blu realized it had just been a nightmare. A bad dream, nothing that could hurt him in the real world. He knew this, and it was true. "A...a really bad dream, Jewel..." he chirped truthfully.

"Was it about us looking for the other macaws? We can stay if you want, really, if you think it'd be best." She gazed into his tired eyes, a look of genuine concern on her face, her beak forming a sharp frown.

Blu smiled at her. "And miss a chance to find more of us? That's just...just laughable, Jewel!" Blu's edge and stress slipped away as he returned to his more lighthearted self. "I'm behind you all the way! My dream was...unrelated." He assured her, and rubbed his beak against hers, giving a coo of affection.

Jewel rubbed her beak back at his, and cooed quietly. "Okay...good. Because we have to get going, or we'll be behind schedule!" She teased, hopping onto the back of the couch and fluttering towards the large container of Brazil Nuts they piled the day before.

Blu followed close by, chuckling, already he began to forget his dream...though he remembered one specific detail. "Cuidado com um punhal no escuro..." he chirped quietly as he began to peck a Brazil nut open. "Beware a dagger in the dark..." He repeated in english. Then he scoffed dismissively. "Birds don't have daggers, and that's a weapon so out of date the only people who use them are entertainers!" He chuckled, lessening his worry with humor. "But if I see any street performers, I'll be sure to watch out..." And like that, he'd already forgotten his dream, munching happily at the foraged breakfast with Jewel.

"Better than pancakes!" Jewel teased.

"You weren't saying that yesterday..." Blu shot back.

"Yesterday was different!" Jewel said with mock indignity.

"How so?" Blu humored her.

"Yesterday's pancakes were really good..." Jewel gave a weak excuse.

Blu and Jewel continued to joke and laugh for a little while before they'd had their fill of Brazil nuts. The two chained-together-birds sat on the windowsill, watching the sun rise.

"Ready?" Jewel chirped in a challenging tone.

"I'll be behind you every step of the way...er...while we're flying." Blu fumbled his words, and smiled sheepishly.

"Together?" Jewel asked, gazing into Blu's eyes.

"Together." Blu said, gazing right back.

And the birds flew off together, Blu trailing just a little behind Jewel as they said goodbye to the place they'd called home for 3 whole years. Where they'd raised their children, and had so many happy memories. But they were ready to begin their next adventure...they set off towards the first city on their list.


End file.
